HTC TyTN II review

Windows can offer just as much as Apple on the smartphone front

The touchscreen has small icons that pretty much oblige you to use the stylus while you hold the phone in both hands

Our Verdict

If you're looking for a Windows alternative to the iPhone, the TyTN II provides a neat package

For

Tilting keyboard

3G

Good connectivity

Against

Quite bulky

Small icons on screen

In many ways the HTC TyTN II highlights the difference between the Windows approach to phones and the new Apple iPhone take on things. When you pitch it against the iPhone, the TyTN II is a chunky phone that is 19mm thick and which weighs in at 190g, so it's slimmer than the original TyTN, but 10g heavier.

The touchscreen only measures 2.8 inches compared to the 3.5 inches of the iPhone and it packs in half the number of pixels of the iPhone, even though the two handsets are nearly identical in size. The reason for different screen sizes is the TyTN II has a navigation pad and buttons below the screen. You slide the phone open to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard that flips up to assist email and texting.

Features

The touchscreen has small icons that pretty much oblige you to use the stylus while you hold the phone in both hands. However, you also have the option of the jog wheel on the left-hand side or the HTC TouchFLO features that allows you to navigate around the screen with your fingertips.

What makes this device stand out are the connectivity options. HTC has packed the TyTN II with 3G/HSDPA, providing a 3.6Mbps connection, which is more than fast enough to make video calls with the video camera.

The main camera is now three megapixels, while the video camera is VGA. If you lose your 3G connection for some reason, the quad-band TyTN II also has GPRS, EDGE and Wi-Fi in its armoury, so making phone calls should be no problem, provided you have a sniff of a signal.

What's more, HTC has even included a GPS receiver which rounds out the features list admirably, but what really separates the TyTN II from the competition is the tilting keyboard, as it hugely improves the experience of sending email and SMS while you're on the move.